Following the rebuilding of the Macedonian capital Skopje, Yugoslavia organized the first in a series of international chess tournaments to be held in Skopje, as well as the two nearby villages of Krusevo and Ochrid, in 1967. The first "Turnir solidarnosti" featured a field of twelve Yugoslavian chess masters headed by grandmaster Milan Matulovic. Visiting participants included Peter Dely from Hungary, Luben Popov from Bulgaria, and Bela Soos from Romania. As was expected, the Soviet Union sent emissaries to participate as well in the guise of two veteran grandmasters, Efim Geller and Ratmir Kholmov. This was perhaps calculated on the Soviet Chess School's part as the final participant was Bobby Fischer, who participated on behalf of the United States. Fischer had just recently returned to regular international competition and Skopje would be an important stop on his road to the Sousse interzonal tournament, which he announced he would be participating in later in the year. Going into this event, not only did Matulovic have a plus score against Fischer, but Geller and Kholmov as well, making them excellent choices to potentially stifle the upstart American's chances. And stifle it almost did: Fischer lost his second round game to Geller, and after the ninth round, despite being tied for first with Kholmov ahead of Geller, Fischer announced he would withdraw from the tournament unless the chess sets were modified and the spectators removed from further rounds. The organizers were in a panic as they could not meet the second demand and Fischer forfeited his tenth round game. However, upon Fishcer's arrival to complete an adjourned game, a compromise within the playing hall was reached and Fischer was allowed to replay his tenth round game. Despite the high drama that often came with Fischer's participation, he found his form and managed to defeat both Matulovic and Kholmov in their encounters in the latter half of the tournament and go on to secure clear first upon the event's completion.

The final standings and crosstable:

1st Fischer 13½/17 * 0 1 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 ½ 1 1

=2nd Geller 13/17 1 * 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 1 1

=2nd Matulovic 13/17 0 0 * ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1

4th Kholmov 11½/17 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 1

5th Bukic 9½/17 0 0 0 ½ * ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1

6th Maric 9/17 0 0 0 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 1 1

=7th Knezevic 8½/17 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 ½ 1

=7th Popov 8½/17 ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 1 ½ 1 ½

=7th Damjanovic 8½/17 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 1

=10th Sofrevski 8/17 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 0

=10th Soos 8/17 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ * ½ 0 1 0 0 1 1

=10th Minic 8/17 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1

=10th Dely 8/17 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 1 ½ 0 1 ½ * 0 1 1 0 1

14th Janosevic 7½/17 1 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 1 * 1 1 0 1

=15th Nicevski 6/17 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 0 0 * ½ ½ 1

=15th Ilievski 6/17 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 0 ½ * ½ 1

17th Panov 4/17 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 ½ ½ * 0

18th Danov 2½/17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 *

*Thanks go to <jessicafischerqueen> for providing the historical background for this tournament.